Morning Mound Visit: sabermetrics news - 9/25/19

FanGraphs | Jay Jaffe: #TeamEntropy isn’t having a great year, as the only real focus as far as tight races go is in the American League, where a Central tie could in theory lead to the Indians and Twins having a playoff for the division, and then another tiebtreaker with the Ray or Athletics for the wild card. In the NL there could be a Central divisional tie between Milwaukee and St. Louis, but that’s rather unlikely as well.

Baseball Prospectus | Matthew Trueblood ($): Speaking of the Indians: of all the teams to likely make the postseason, they had the weirdest road. They don’t do any one thing particularly amazing and they are largely defined by what’s missing in Corey Kluber and (until recently) Carlos Carrasco. Their staff DRA is also in the back third of the pack in the league, which is quite different from past years.

The Athletic | Eno Sarris ($): What helps a team win in the postseason? We’re always asking that question, and likely there is no good answer. While there is some truth to the idea that contact is better than strikeouts, all other bets (home runs, defense, pitching, bullpen, etc.) are off. The playoffs are a glorious crapshoot, and no one strategy wins.